Surrender
by KalenCaelli
Summary: Shepard and Liara spend the night before Ilos with each other: a one-shot based on the Dark Energy universe of Melaradark


**Title: **Surrender

**Rating: **M

**Disclaimer:** I can't take responsibility for anything in the Mass Effect Universe. That belongs to Bioware. Nor can I take credit for these characters – they belong to Melaradark in her Dark Energy Universe.

**Author's Note:** This is literally a first for me, a fanfiction of a fanfiction, but if you've read the stories, you know exactly why I'm writing this. I fell in love with Melara's Dark Energy series, and Del Shepard and Liara T'Soni and have been hopelessly following the stories. If you haven't read them, visit my favorite's page and read them, like now.

This story takes place during the journey to Ilos, and contains some intimate moments between my two favorite characters. I highly recommend you don't read this at work, or if you're of delicate sensibilities, or highly offended by love, or if you are a large purple lizard.

A special thanks to Melara for allowing me the liberty to play with her characters. For those of you familiar with that exceptional work...you will recognize this first quarter or so of this as pulled directly from her Dark Energy story.

* * *

"Be with me."

The returning whisper against her own ear sent light prickles along her arms.

"Only if you're sure, Tianlán…"

Moving back just enough, Liara kissed her, feeling her heart immediately speed up. She tried to pour everything she was feeling into that kiss, to make it more than clear to Shepard what she was feeling…and had been feeling almost since the moment they'd first met.

As the kiss broke she didn't move back, their foreheads lightly resting against each other as they breathed. "Does that feel as if I am sure?" she asked.

Shepard grinned, letting out a faint chuckle. "Yeah…feels like a lot of things," she agreed. "All of them good."

Dipping in Shepard kissed her again. Liara felt her muscles unravel as every concern, every fear, every doubt she had ever had seemed to melt and fall away. There was no more timidity, no more question whether or not this was right. How could this feeling be anything other than right?

An eternity seemed to pass, but in truth it was only a few moments. When she felt the soft skin of the commander's hands on her bare back, having slipped beneath the hem of her tunic, Liara caught her breath in a gasp, breaking off the kiss.

"Shepard…"

No less breathless, Shepard replied, "We can stop…"

"No!" Liara blurted, then colored a little at her vehemence. Nuzzling the human woman's cheek slightly, pressing another kiss to the corner of her mouth she clarified her protest. "No, I just…I want this to be a true Joining. I don't want to just be with you, I want to feel your spirit with mine…to become one in every way."

"Just tell me what to do," Shepard murmured. Her hand shifted again, lightly stroking over Liara's back in just the right spot, making the asari gasp again. Liara wondered if Shepard had taken the time to look up asari physiology on the extranet, or if her very well-placed caresses weren't just a happy accident.

"It is like the knowledge melds," Liara breathlessly explained, clinging to the commander as if she would drown if she released her. Each stroke of her fingers was lighting her up in incredible ways. "Only a much deeper, much stronger connection. It will bind us both on a very personal level-"

Shepard smiled lightly against Liara's lips. "You really want to give me a science lesson right now, Tianlán?" she teased gently.

"No," Liara breathed, then captured her lips again briefly.

"Find your peace, Shepard." Her voice seemed barely audible over the thunder of her heartbeat. "Find your place in the universe, in existence. Find your place with me…"

"Li…"

"We are one."

Liara's eyes had turned obsidian as she captured Shepard's gaze. Unlike the knowledge melds, there were no torn up, tortured memories – no trauma, pain or grief. They remained supremely aware of each other but the walls of the quarters around them seemed to melt away, to vanish into golden sunlight, the eternal surge of the ocean, an utterly perfect peace.

Shepard's breath caught in her throat as the tide of emotions flooded her body – any lingering fear and uncertainty dissipated as her thoughts melded with Liara's. She became acutely aware of the pounding of her own pulse, the slight hitch of Liara's breathing, the blush that tinged the asari's cheeks a darker hue.

Liara was right – this was different than any of the other melds. Those had been primarily focused on thoughts as opposed to feelings, the past, not the present.

This was nothing like that.

Reaching up with calloused fingertips, Del cupped Liara's cheeks as she traced a thumb across a faint spattering of freckles that dotted the asari's cheekbones. Her heart was pounding furiously and she dipped her head, capturing Liara's lips once more in a tender kiss, feeling the unmistakable thrill of desire as it coursed through her body.

Liara's arms slid around her back, blunt nails digging into her skin when Shepard deliberately deepened the kiss, nipping playfully at her lower lip before deepening the exploration, trailing her own fingertips tantalizingly along the hemline of Liara's shirt before dipping beneath to caress the soft skin.

"Goddess, Shepard," Liara gasped, her back arching as those fingers pressed firmly on either side of her spine, setting her nerves, and their bond, aflame. "Are you sure you haven't been with an asari before?"

"Mmm..." the lips dipped lower, nuzzling along the folds of her neck. "Just..." a delectable warmth spread through her as Shepard's teeth nibbled a trail from her cheek to her collarbone, "winging it..."

A ragged gasp escaped Liara's lips as a pair of fingers deftly plucked at the buttons on her shirt, fabric parted from skin, falling from a pair of slender shoulders. Teasing fingertips slid up a pair of ribs, sweeping along the curve of her breasts and then they were actually _on_ her breasts, the pads of Shepard's thumbs sweeping over rapidly hardening nipples.

All oxygen fled the room.

Liara surged, guided more by instinct rather than thought, her own hands slipping underneath the edge of the black tank top, tugging impatiently at the unwelcome barrier.

"Getting impatient, aren't we Tianlán?" Shepard broke off her ministrations long enough to tease, the murmur against her bare skin sending a delicious shudder through both women.

A flash of biotics and the tank top was no more, the ripped halves somehow finding their way across the room as those same fingertips, beginning to glow with youthful impatience, started tugging at the waistband of Shepard's yoga pants.

A throaty chuckle filled the room, Del's hands resting on top of Liara's as she stilled their impatient movements. "Easy, Tianlán. We've got all night."

A heated blush spread across Liara's features. "I am sorry, I just..."

"Shh..." a pair of fingertips silenced her. Shepard flashed one of her famous lopsided grins, sending Liara's pulse racing. "I know."

Leaning in and brushing her lips against the asari's she drew Liara back into the kiss, nibbling gently at her lower lip, coaxing a low moan from the scientist, feeling the tension begin to disappear as her fingers mapped intricate trails along her shoulders and chest. She gasped in surprise, knees nearly buckling as those same hands slid along her back, fingers pressing lightly along the base of her spine.

"Goddess," Liara gasped, arching into the touch as Shepard's tongue trailed along her neck, the soldier's thigh slipping between her legs, supporting her. "Shepard, I need..."

"...bed," Del supplied, guiding her, sinking easily into the mattress, dipping her head to thoroughly sample the soft skin of her lover's neck, her tongue tracing a path along the folds.

In truth, Shepard had only been teasing Liara before. She had done a _little_ research on asari anatomy, especially when it became clearly evident the path that their relationship seemed destined to take.

Besides, it never hurt to be prepared.

Asari bodies very closely resembled those of the typical human female, with the primary exception being a complete lack of body hair. Another major difference – the "folds" that comprised their neck, remnants of vestigial organs that ended in a series of ridges at the top of the asari spine and which were, as Shepard soon found out, exquisitely sensitive.

She trailed her tongue along the firm folds of flesh that masked the softer skin underneath, dipping into the creases and making Liara gasp sharply, especially when her fingers played at the base of her neck, caressing the erogenous zone. There was an accompanying whisper of sensation along the back of her own neck, along with an accompanying pull of her own stomach.

Shepard pulled away with a shudder, drawing a ragged gasp to center herself. Her own neck tingling with a ghostly whisper of Liara's pleasure she realized that she could, at least on a lesser level, sense the whisper of her own touch as well as the scientist's frustration at the sudden loss of contact.

Del's lips curled in a grin. _This could get very interesting_, she mused, not resisting at all as Liara's fists tangled in her hair and pulled their lips together forcefully. She moaned softly as the hardened peaks of her nipples raked lightly across Liara's skin, the asari's fingernails scratching lightly against her scalp as she explored the unfamiliar territory with youthful enthusiasm.

With a smirk Shepard lowered her head, trailing a long, sensuous path along Liara's neck. The asari's fingertips slid through her hair, balling into fists when Shepard's mouth nibbled across a collarbone, across the swell of a breast, tracing a long, languid circle around a taut blue nipple before taking the hardened peak into her mouth.

Liara's sharp gasp was accompanied by a surge of pleasure across their joined minds, a warm ball of heat forming in the middle of Shepard's belly, and the slightest pain as the asari's clenched fists tugged helplessly at her ebony hair.

The fists instinctively loosened, replaced by a flood of emotions and sensations that left both women reeling.

Pausing slightly in her ministrations to draw a deep, shuddering breath, Shepard allowed her hands to slide to points further south, tracing the faintest outline of ribs, feeling the involuntary flutter of Liara's stomach muscles in anticipation.

"Del..." came the hushed whisper, the silent plea for something she could not quite articulate, the urgent need instead wordlessly communicated over the bond.

"Soon," Shepard promised, continuing her fervent administrations to the asari's breasts, suckling gently at the soft mounds, her free hand sliding across the curve of a hip. Fingers tugged at her remaining article of clothing, the blue hips lifting as Del relieved her of her last article of clothing.

There was a pause as Shepard pulled away, leaving her strangely bereft. Liara's lips parted in protest, but the sound died at the sensation of skin against skin, eyes opening to see her lover's nude form settling against hers, eyes meeting Liara's with a hesitant vulnerability that Del would not, could not, permit with any other.

Eyes turned dark with desire trailed down her lover's body, reaching out with silent wonder to trace along a sickle-shaped scar along her collarbone, and another, starburst shape along her left abdomen.

"By the Goddess," Liara murmured, her hands mapping a path across the marine's torso, marveling silently at the contrast between hard planes and soft skin beneath. For her part, Shepard showed some remarkable restraint – her body was literally trembling with desire that mirrored the asari's own.

Resting her hand on Shepard's breastbone, Liara felt the pounding of the her lover's heartbeat, saw the slightest hitch of her breathing as blue hands slid across soft skin to the underside of her breasts, caressing the smooth undersides as her thumbs flicked across rapidly hardening nipples.

"Beautiful," Liara murmured a fraction of a second before Shepard surged forward, capturing her lips in a hungry kiss, skin sliding against skin with increasing urgency.

Liara's hands slid through Shepard's hair, fascinated by the dark tendrils that hung over her face, masking the feral hunger in the Spectre's eyes. She lost herself in the kiss, the sensation of teeth and tongue and lips moving in nearly perfect synchrony, the moisture coating her thigh from Del's arousal, the fleeting, maddening touch of fingertips along her inner thigh.

Their bond flared when one finger, then two, slid into her willing warmth, a low moan issued forth from the mouths of both women. Their eyes met and each of them became lost in the unity of the bond, the motion of their bodies rocking together, the sensations of their shared pleasure.

Liara's hands slipped down Shepard's torso, teasing the hardened points of breasts, gasping at the surge of pleasure that crested through their bond, and then dipped lower, exploring the wiry curls with renewed curiosity.

So different from the hair on Del's head, and radiating a warmth and... a slender finger dipped past the outer folds... marveling at the slick heat and the accompanying flutter of Shepard's heartbeat. An image briefly flashed through her mind, and without hesitation Liara's fingers slid through that warmth, two fingers plunging into Del's core.

Shepard's hips surged forward, groaning at the welcome sensations, the motion sending her own fingers deeper into Liara's warmth. A thumb reached up along the inner surface of her folds, sliding along the trail of moisture, searching diligently for...

...Liara cried out sharply when Del's thumb slid over the exquisitely sensitive bundle of nerves, flicking rapidly against the hardened tip, sending her spiraling higher and higher.

All at once, the slow burn that had been building ignited into a raging inferno. Both women cried out, cresting together, riding the endless waves of passion for a seeming eternity.

The release left both of them reeling, panting for breath as they struggled to regain their composure. Liara's eyes were closed, forehead pressed against Shepard's, savoring the sensations of their bodies intertwined, the physical nature of their joining.

"Goddess, Shepard, that was..."

"...incredible." Del supplied, slowly and reluctantly withdrawing her fingers from Liara's core, feeling the accompanying shiver when the asari mirrored her motions.

"I never... I mean I..." the asari's cheeks tinged in a blush, her voice trailing off as she tried to process the myriad of feelings and sensations that raced through her body. Shepard chuckled, drawing her closer against her body, causing goosebumps to rise wherever their flesh touched.

It had been pretty awesome, Shepard conceded silently, wrapping an arm around Liara's shoulders, savoring the warmth of the asari's skin against her own, the muscles in her stomach fluttering as Liara's fingertips traced patterns absently against the skin.

"It was wonderful," the asari blurted, perhaps more forcefully than she intended, the accompanying warmth coloring her cheeks and causing her to bury her head even more tightly against Shepard's shoulder.

"Ready for round two?" Del wiggled her eyebrows, unable to keep from laughing as Liara's head jerked sharply, eyes wide with a mixture of shock and delight.

"Now?" Liara stuttered, her blush deepening. Of course she wanted to meld with Shepard again. She'd just never dreamed...

"Unless you don't think you can keep up?" Shepard teased, snickering at the mock indignation that wrinkled the scientist's adorable nose.

"Of course I.." her argument was silenced by the press of Shepard's lips against hers, the human rolling onto her back and pulling Liara astride, slipping easily into the meld, their surroundings once more disappearing into a haze of blissful pleasure, losing themselves, once again, in their bond.

And in each other.


End file.
